Public safety alert systems have long been deployed by governments or other authorities. As technology has evolved, so too has the means by which such alerts are communicated, for example from bells and sirens to radio and television broadcasts. More recently, it has been proposed to issue public safety alerts directly to mobile devices via wireless networks, for example in the form of text messages. This may provide for an advance in timely and reliable communication of alert messages, as well as new possibilities for customization and targeting of alert messages to different recipients or groups.
For example, the United States government has proposed the Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS), by which commercial mobile service providers may transmit text-based emergency alerts to their subscribers. Federal, State, Tribal and Local alerts can be sent to a gateway of the service provider, which processes and transmits the alerts. The goal is to facilitate reception of timely and accurate warnings regarding disasters, man-made or otherwise, and other emergencies. However, CMAS does not include a mechanism for reacting or responding to issued alerts. Once a subscriber receives an alert, they must determine on their own whether and how to react.
Services such as Dell AlertFind™ and Motorola Alerts™ have been offered which automatically or semi-automatically contact and collect responses from designated people in a crisis. Such services, which are primarily targeted toward organizations, require a private contact center or device thereof to initiate contact with the designated personnel. However, such a services do not take full advantage of potential interoperability with authority-based alert systems such as CMAS.
Therefore there is a need for a method and apparatus for facilitating status reporting triggered by an authority-issued alert or emergency situation that is not subject to one or more limitations of the prior art.
It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals.